Bars On Windows

have been looking at many crete property photos and so many of them have bars on the windows. why is this? is there a big burglary problem on the island? looks like living in a prison. very unwelcoming.

I don't know where you have been looking but I don't know of any houses which have bars on the windows.

With the current economic problems the crime rate has gone up as has the suicide rate! However, in my area at least, it has not reached the same rates as the UK and burglary is still very rare here (touch wood!).

Some holiday homes were burgled a couple of years ago in Apokoronas. It was at the time of a large exodus of foreign workers. Such crime is not a huge problem here but it can happen and unoccupied holiday homes are a soft target. Our house has bars on the front-facing kitchen window but nowhere else. I have no idea why! You'd expect a burglar to attack the out-of-sight rear windows.